Beginning in the late 1950s, the Philadelphia Water Department began publishing a newsletter for employees that was reported, written and edited by PWD staff. The newsletter was probably created to boost staff morale and try to provide some cohesion among the hundreds of employees spread out at about a dozen locations all over the city. The 54 newsletters collected here include big-picture department news related to drinking water, sewage treatment and the pollution of the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, but they also includes profiles of employees, records of new hires, promotions and retirements, reports of the accomplishments of PWD sports teams, and even announcements of the marriages of employees and births of their children. The newsletters provide a different view of PWD operations–more fine-grained and more personal–than that presented in the public facing annual reports of this era (which can be found on WaterHistoryPHLorg.)

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